The Thompsons' solicitor, David Robinson, said officers had failed to follow the policing manual for road traffic collisions and did not complete basic steps such as obtaining mobile phone records.

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The investing masses discovered the Thompsons only recently.

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The trip is expected to take 12 to 15 days and has suffered multiple false starts as the Thompsons try to line up the logistics of visas, border crossings and travel time timetables in a part of the world where buses and ferries don't tend to conform to strict schedules.

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